In some way, the success of your friend’s wedding is on your shoulders. You might end up responsible for all sorts of the inner machinery of the wedding — from organising a stag to forget, to maintaining the atmosphere on the day and running point on anything that comes up. And, sure, there’s the small matter of spending 10 minutes talking in front of everyone.

The good thing is that your responsibility is also your opportunity to stand tall. By the time you get to the speech, you may well feel more confident than you ever have.

There was this moment during a wedding speech I gave for my sister, on a golden May afternoon in 2016. I sipped a drink and scanned the room, taking a pause after what I thought was a reasonably good joke about the time my sister thought Wales was an island because it can accessed via a bridge.

I knew many of the guests, but not all, and I was drawn to looking for affirmation in those I knew. On a couple of tables I saw pockets of laughter, smiles above rows of waistcoats and dresses, and something that looked like encouragement. During that moment I thought to myself, ‘this is going much better than expected‘.

And I remember that clearly, because I don’t remember much else about that day.